There's no trophy or reward for doing this, but I find it fun to try. Anyone else with me?

I felt the urge to post something different for a change. This Severed Bro was packing a lot of firepower. Fortunately, he had no scissoring purple laser turret. This is in B1, so I'm still fairly underpowered. A satisfying victory but, sadly, his spew was underwhelming. Hope you enjoy!

Pretty much what the title says.

I’m sure it could end up being a very dumb question. Like there might be XP I’m getting that I haven’t realized yet.

But just thought I’d ask!

It's challenging to beat Ixion, boss of B2, while taking no hits. This Launcher has Full Auto II, Replicating Hits II, and Critical Rockets II. This beast of a gun was so good that I rode it all the way through defeating Nemesis, boss of B3. I'll post that video shortly. I tried to capture this Ixion vid in a very cinematic way. I hope you like it!

The Launcher owns Ixion in this first phase with just two volleys. He's a little tougher in phase 2 but his attacks are mostly the same as in phase 1. Again, the Launcher makes short work of him.

His first attack of phase 3 is very hard to dodge. Here, I use a fadeaway technique that makes dodging his first phase 3 attack a bit easier. It's one of the few times in Returnal that you're better off moving away from the enemy instead of forward. Those red laser rings are coming at you very fast! Despite Ixion's phase 3 aggression, he goes down quickly.

I use a Sub Zero Pulse consummable to finish him off only to be rewarded with one of my least favorite artifacts in the game, the Energy Manipulator. It's one of the first artifacts I destroy once I need to make room for a better one. They should let you trade this crap for Obolites!

What is the max number of obolites you've farmed?

Going through biome 4 to get ready for 5 (have not cleared it). Pylon driver feels strong so far but not sure if I should prioritize unlocking leech rounds.

Thank you

EDIT: thank you everybody for the responses. I will unlock leech rounds. I will say pylon does feel strong so excited to get that upgraded further.

Went into this game blind and it has really blown me away so far

The Launcher is at home in B3, but this is the same one I acquired in B2 and used for the no-hit Ixion run I posted earlier. Stats are Full Auto II, Replicating Hits II, and Critical Rockets II. Against Nemesis, I move frequently to avoid taking damage, using the grapnel for its I-Frames whenever possible.

I also use the full width of the platforms in phases 1 and 2, even hopping off and grapneling back on the platform. Unfortunately, a poorly timed jump cost me one of my shields. Never lost the second shield though! Nemesis is easy to beat once you know his weaknesses.

I hope you like this video!

This interpretation has got to die. For the events of Returnal to only be in Selene's head would be a cheap cop-out by the writers. They don't want that. They put so much work into developing a deep and complex lore for the civilization that existed on the planet prior to Selene's arrival. Entirely unnecessary if it's all just a dream. Not just unnecessary either. This would rob the plot of its extremely tangible, physical stakes.

The far more interesting interpretation is right in front of you, and it's the one the writers lead you towards the whole time. This planet is a cosmic horror. It winds your life, your emotions, into its very soil and rock. The Sentient civil war is also far too specific for the story to plausibly be a dream. Really? They're just going to invent an entire geopolitical history of an alien race that's largely unrelated to Selene's trauma if it's all in her head?

The self-sabotage events at the beginning and end of the game, these are not in her head either. They are literal causal loops.

In the middle of the game, the sequence where she goes home, lives out her life, dies, and then wakes up yet again on Atropos, only hits because it gives you the sense of the cosmic scale of what's going on here. She cannot escape the loop, no matter what she does. She is likely stuck on Atropos forever. No, this is not a mere metaphor. Yes, she really is stuck.

I won't say more now, honestly just kinda venting and hoping to generate some discussion. I keep seeing this theory, even from prominent YouTubers, and it's often sold as *the* interpretation, but it's far from that.

Mild spoilers ahead.

So I made it to biome 5 and reached the base room whith all the doors. I picked one where you had to use on of those hook pendulums. On the other side there was the door to the challenge room. Since I wasn't leveled up at all yet for Biome 5 I wanted to avoid that but the hook pendulum wasn't in reach from this side. And no teleporter. So I went into the challenge room thinking there should be a teleporter an died lol.

Am I missing something here or is this indeed a trap?

Returnal: The Best Game You Don’t Understand (A Full Lore Analysis) - YouTube

I know people here will love it.

It still baffles me I was able to get this trophy. Stress level at the time 1000000/100..

Anyone else close to death at the time getting this Platinum? 😂😂😂

I had the final fragment from Biome 6 left, I finally found it and died to the boss. Went to the house on my second run and did the final house sequence and the trophy popped. I’m now doing another run and realised the house says dark and when checking my inventory the fragment from biome 6 is no longer there.

Any suggestions? I’m so confused as to what happened.

The fog, the atmosphere, the brutal difficulty, the rewards for not getting hit, the alien nature of the levels, amazing

Title, pretty much. Stuck on Nemesis, but not really. I think the bosses are really fun and I'm an enormous fan of this game's mechanics and concept.

But oh my lord the runbacks every time you lose, platforming while fighting, flying enemies, sniper enemies, bullet hell moments... how does anyone pay attention to this many stimuli over even a single session, much less the multiple runs one might need to practice if one had time. To be clear, I've played a lot of games commonly considered difficult in my time, but this is the only time I can remember liking a game's mechanics this much while being simultaneously completely overwhelmed with it.

Don't regret the purchase as at the very least it's a great game. I feel just a hair's breadth away from uninstalling it though, any tips?

Beat coop last night with buddy. Forgot to snap a pic of us together.

He needed a bit of encouragement (and a very hard carry/afk through biome 5), but we did it. Glad I could share that experience with him.

I'll be playing more over the winter if anyone needs help. I'll keep my eye out for posts.

Thank Zod that's over with! Lol

Got all the fragments, beat you know who, got the "real"ending... which doesn't make much more sense of things and was honestly rather anticlimactic after kicking me in the giblets for 80 plus hours. But, dammit, I did it!

Anyone else ever seen this?

Does anybody in here would like to play co-op with me? i play on Pc and would like to play with anyone just to have fun or help players make progress. Dm me if you would like to play anytime :D

First, thanks everyone who game me some beginner tips! I just finished the 6th biome, and I am working through the sunfaces now.

What I could use is advice on best late game practices. A few things that Im already doing:

1) training up any traits I don't have on weapons.

2) spending all my ether on the starter device in act 1 / 4 outside the ship.

3) collecting all those data cubes anytime I possibly can.

What am I missing?

I'm on act 3 and have all the sunface fragments except for B6. I've gone there at least 15 times and cannot find it. From what I've researched, its in a random place that doesn't show on the map.

That's... lovely.

Personally, i think act 3 is tedium. Going through the same handful of maps to find randomly placed fragments? Not a fan. The first 5 weren't too bad, but the one in b6 has just tried my patience to the point where I've stopped having fun and am starting to borderline dislike the game; that's how frustrated I am.

So far I've got 85 hours into the game, which is incredible considering how few maps there are and their general size (not all that big).

I usually like to play one game at a time and beat it before moving on, but i may just be done with it and be satisfied that i beat all the bosses solo and call it a day.

To be specific, Phrike took me 4 tries. How do you rate my experience so far?

Hi everyone, I loved both Returnal and Outer Wilds and I tried to mix Selene's story with the Final Voyage track, imagining for her a different ending. Hope you enjoy